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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Pets help humans become better social animals

DO you ever feel lonely at home?
Do you feel lost when your family is not at home? Indeed we often find it
difficult to live alone, but unfortunately no one can accompany us all day
long. However don’t worry, there’s a faithful companion; a pet that is.

Yes, a pet can be your friend all
day long. Indeed the often-pampered domesticated pets are different from the
far less fortunate animals such as animals raised for food or those human
beings cruelly exploit in other ways for economic gain.

Not all animals are suitable to
be kept as pets. Some people buy and keep rare protected animals and some also
keep animals that carry diseases that can be transmitted to human beings. Popular
pets are usually those that look or sound attractive, such as dogs, cats, rabbits,
birds and ornamental fish. Children in particular have a special affinity with
animals. So, don’t be surprised if your children request a pet.

In fact, you have nothing to
fear, as keeping and caring for pets can be useful for a child’s psychological
development. A study in England has shown that a child who keeps a pet has
better social skills, while another research in New Mexico has concluded that
it increases the empathy of the child and the child cares better and is more
concerned.

Taking care of a pet actually
means learning to love, to care and to be responsible. According to an expert a
person who has loved and cared for a pet since childhood grows into a loving
personality who is full of responsibility and is able to control himself or herself
better.

Taking care of a pet also reduces
one’s stress, because your usual daily activities, especially those of a child,
such as going to school, playing, joining all sorts of courses, watching TV
etc. makes you stressful. But playing with a pet, bathing it, feeding it and so
forth will make you feel more relaxed.

The presence of a dog, for
example, usually makes everyone in the family happy. The dog simply becomes
another family member. Some people
truly regard dogs as man’s best friend. The emotional bond between owner
and dog is mutual as the dog gets the benefit of his or her attention while the
owner feels happy, satisfied and relaxed with its presence, hence the popular
saying that a dog is more faithful than a wife or a husband.

A well cared for dog is extremely
loyal to its master; it can even cry when it does not meet the master for a
long time. There is one true story about a dog that kept waiting at its
master’s grave after his death until finally the dog also died there. That’s how
faithful a dog can be. At some nursing homes for elderly people in foreign
countries dogs are made available to accompany them or for them to play with. Therefore
loneliness and the feeling of being useless disappear as a result of such
activities.

Dogs often protect their masters,
for example German Shepherds have been proven to offer better protection than a
burglar alarm. Dogs can also be life companions for the blind and during
natural disasters they can help locate victims. They are often used by the
police force as well to sniff out narcotic substances.

However, there are disadvantages
too, for example, the cost of raising and caring for them, the potential damage
to furniture and other items and the possibility that they may attack or harm
other people. You must also consider diseases, such as rabies and so forth
before you decide to keep a dog.

Cats are also popular pets. Many
families keep dozens of cats. Imelda (31), who lives in Kemayoran, Central
Jakarta, for example, acknowledges that she has been raising cats for years
now. “My mother and I have been raising cats since my childhood and they have
become a part of my family,” she said.

Indeed some people worry about
diseases carried by cats. Medical research shows that cat’s hair and feces can
cause disease especially for women. However, you don’t have to worry too much
if the cat is kept clean. “And the most important thing is to regularly
vaccinate the cats as well as bathe them properly,” said Imelda, a mother of
two children who now owns four cats, including a Persian breed.

When the cats get sick she takes
them to a vet, because foreign breeds are more sensitive than local ones. She
has also trained them to urinate etc. in the bathroom just like everyone else.
“I have trained them since they were quite small,” said Imelda. (Burhanuddin Abe)